Talk:Emi Yusa/@comment-24.42.87.27-20130701053438/@comment-1200981-20140518054929
I know that this discussion is dead, but I have to add my piece here and then I'll be on my way. Y'know, it's hypocritical to pour so much vitriol on a character when you discuss him/her, then backtrack, get defensive and play the victim when people call you out on it by hiding behind the weak "she's not a real person, don't get mad at me" excuse. Because if she's not a real person, then you shouldn't have such strong feelings of contempt towards her yourself. Obviously, people feel potently towards the characters no matter which way you go, which is a writer's intention when they construct a story; if the characters don't capture the readers' attention and don't make you feel anything towards them, it's a failure in the eyes of an author. And your perception of her character is grossly inadequate and lacks any empathetic understanding. The fact that she's so conflicted over him is what gives her character depth. Despite what crimes he committed against her and Ente Isla, she can't simply ignore his apparent change in character and his actions when it comes to protecting civilians and the city itself(as well as his own attitude and actions toward her personally, where he saves her life and treats her kindly for the most part). If she were truly a "bitch", she wouldn't give a damn to take any of that under consideration, disregard all of his heroism entirely, just go about single-mindedly plotting his demise or continue to go on about how horrible he is at every opportunity. As it stands, she just settles for semi-malicious teasing and is *still* willing to help him with even mundane things when he needs it. Considering that he was her arch nemesis and the warmongering tyrant set on dominating her world(and still kinda/sorta is), that's pretty damn lenient. Also, you'd recall that at the beginning of the series, she said she was perfectly content to leave him alone as long as he was willing to live the rest of his life as a human being making an honest living because she believed he changed his ways (in spite of what he did to her world and his supposed involvement in her father's death), then he goes and says that he still intends to go to Ente Isla to restart what he begun. Hence, the ongoing continuation of their somewhat uneasy stance with each other. If anything, that was Maou's fault right there. And as we see by the twelfth episode, she sings Maou's praises about his virtues when she's captured by Sariel. Which shows that she is not biased against him. So no, her revenge does not prioritize over her duty as a hero, which is to be believe in and practice righteousness, not just "kill the badguy". Speaking of which, who are you to mandate what her duty as a hero entails? Why should she have to kill him if he's actually willing to change and become a better person? You're not the author and you are certainly not the aficianado regarding the several complex categories of heroic types that exist in all of media. In Emi's case, she's apparently the somewhat naive, idealistic type of hero who is willing to offer the villain redemption if he is sincere in repenting for his misdeeds; even if grudgingly. As for her father, I'm just going to ask you: If someone killed YOUR entire family, and later on you find him, only to discover that he may have found the cure for cancer and seems like a good person now, are YOU just going to automatically forgive and forget him for what he did? Seriously? You wouldn't feel conflicted at all? Because if so, you must be a saint. Either that, or you never liked your family at all. So yes, there's still that between them but as we see, she is obviously doing her best to get along with him in spite of it. That shows a high degree of maturity and compassion in her character in that despite her aggression towards him, she ultimately wants to believe in his more virtuous nature. (And considering that the Church lied to her about her father's death and he's somewhere in Japan with her other sword, that means that a good chunk of the tension between them will evaporate once that fact is made known to her). Instead of espousing the "greater good", you should put yourself in the character's mindset and try to understand how they feel instead of judging them. It's a lot easier to empathize when you put yourself in another's shoes and ask yourself how YOU would behave or react in a situation. (FYI, she does not rant to him about her father's "death" every chance she gets, so please stop exaggerating)